


Warm and Real and Bright

by afterandalasia



Series: Femslash Yuletide 2014 [16]
Category: Frozen (2013), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Christmas Lights, Christmas Presents, Crossover Pairings, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash Yuletide 2014, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 02:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8872144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterandalasia/pseuds/afterandalasia
Summary: “You know why you can’t decide on a present?” said Anna. She poked Elsa in the side of the head with one fluffy-socked foot.“Because my sister keeps putting her toe in my ear?”Anna blew a raspberry. “You’re overthinking it." Written for Femslash Yuletide Day Sixteen, "Christmas Lights".





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: this fic is two years late to the day for this day of Femslash Yuletide. And even in 2014, I was using the 2013 prompts, like a boss. So this is backdated to 16th Dec 2014, but was posted on 16th Dec 2016.
> 
> My eternal thanks to Lumelle for the prompt/plotbunny that built into this, although I fear that I managed to get touches of angst to the backstory. There's reference to kidnapping, childhood illness (unspecified), parent death, and economic difficulties. But somehow, despite that, it's a fluffy fic overall.

“You know why you can’t decide on a present?” said Anna. She poked Elsa in the side of the head with one fluffy-socked foot.

“Because my sister keeps putting her toe in my ear?”

Anna blew a raspberry. “You’re overthinking it. Just kept Punzie something you know she’ll like.”

“Okay, firstly,” Elsa pushed Anna’s foot down from where it was still tickling her ear, “ _ you _ need to stop having nicknames for  _ my _ girlfriend.”

“I’ve told you you’re welcome to call Kristoff ‘Krissy’.”

“And the day I do will be the day he dumps you,” said Elsa, without missing a beat. She still relished evenings like this, the easy banter, using her laptop at one end of the couch while Anna rewatched her favourite Joan of Arc film from the other. It was even good when Kristoff was there as well; the couch was big enough for three as long as Sven stayed on the floor.

“You could get her an art book–”

“She has a lot of art books.”

“Or one of those gorgeous amethyst geodes–”

“To do what with? You know she’s more practical than that.

“A paperweight?” Anna rolled her eyes, and paused to fish a stray chocolate button out of her cleavage. “Fine. Just buy her a vibrator.  _ That _ has a clear use.”

“Anna!”

The twinkle in Anna’s eye made it clear that she was teasing, but Elsa still blushed furiously. It was taking her longer to come round to the fact that female friendship, at least in Anna’s eyes, meant at the very least acknowledging each other’s sex lives.

“I just…” Elsa sighed and closed her laptop. “I want to get her just the  _ right _ present, okay? I did really well for her birthday, with the county fair and the dancing.” Even if she had, once or twice, trodden on Rapunzel’s feet. “I just… want to do something as good for our first Christmas.”

The money issue lay unspoken between them. Rapunzel’s family – her real family, to whom she had returned at eight after being kidnapped as a baby – were rather more than well-off, while Elsa’s childhood illness and their father’s depression had not left their family comfortable even before their parents died. Elsa had not admitted how bad it was until Anna dropped out of university after one semester, and wall after wall of carefully constructed omissions-not-quite-lies had come tumbling down.

They had a balance, now. Elsa’s day job as a secretary paid for her night school in psychology, and with Anna’s job in sales it was enough to cover a two-bedroom apartment. For time together they cycled, or hiked, or skated in the park, and dissected and critiqued every movie that they watched. The first time, it would get a pass, but after that no movie was sacred.

Rapunzel was graduating college in the summer, and her parents had it covered. She was gracious, never mentioning money and allowing Elsa to split bills for the sake of her pride, but Elsa still ached to think that she could not get her girlfriend the amazing experiences and beautiful things that she deserved.

“Elsa.” Anna swung her feet down, sat up, and took her sister’s hands. “You know that Rapunzel’s dating  _ you _ , right? The fact that this present comes from you will be the important bit. You know our snowman? Lopsided head, buck teeth?”

It had been the last one they made together as kids, the winter before Elsa got sick. Anna still had the picture. They had tried to recreate it, after everything had fallen apart and been put back together again.

Elsa nodded.

“It’s terrible,” said Anna flatly. Elsa looked at her in bewilderment. “It looks like the abominable snowman’s codpiece. It looks–” Elsa was laughing, helplessly, while Anna somehow kept a straight face. “It looks like a pile of marshmallows after an unfortunate accident with a herd of goats. It  _ genuinely _ looks like someone sat on it at one point, and you know what?”

“What?” said Elsa, between giggles and with tears in her eyes.

“It’s perfect,” said Anna, serious again. She squeezed Elsa’s hands. “Because  _ we _ made it, together. So trust me, whatever you get Rapunzel, it’s going to be perfect to her.”

“Does this apply to that reindeer statue, from Kristoff?”

Anna didn’t bat an eyelash. “No, that is genuinely terrible. I can’t sleep with it watching me.” Something which Elsa knew only too well, having been woken up more than once by Anna rolling over and screaming as she came face-to-face with it. Apparently it was something about the teeth. “I think it’s a killer clown in disguise.”

“Well, I shall avoid killer reindeer statues, then.”

She tried to put it to the back of her mind, and let her subconscious roll it over like the waves over a stone. One of the few things she had been able to do for Anna, year on year, was buy her a present; she had become quite good at being able to get something based on the little that their parents said, or that Anna herself might say from outside the door. Sometimes it was a matter of a word or two, plucked out from somewhere in the months and wrapped up in an actual idea.

It came, of all places, while she was passing a café. Anna thought that she was absolutely mad to go running across the road, but by the time that she caught up Elsa was grinning and giddy and had in her hand a piece of paper on which was written, of all things, the name of a hardware store.

Anna looked at it for a long time, then to Elsa’s grin. “Fine,” she said, finally. “Don’t tell me, then.”

Elsa squeezed her hand instead, and Anna rolled her eyes fondly.

She finally managed to get out to the store in question a few days later, and presented Anna with her find triumphantly. Anna tilted her head, looked over the box slowly, and said, “Christmas lights?”

“Ones shaped like  _ sky lanterns _ ,” said Elsa. “Rapunzel told me once that when she was young, these used to be the highlight of her year.”

The brush of her fingers over the box was more gentle. She knew that there was an element of risk there, that the lights might trigger the wrong memories, but Rapunzel’s green eyes had been alight when she had described the sky lanterns that she had used to watch floating up, from the local lantern festival held just within sight. She had talked about how they had been like shooting stars,  _ better _ , because instead of falling they rose into the sky.

But if she was right…

Anna pulled her from her thoughts with a light punch on the shoulder. “See? Told you that you’d figure it out.”

  
  
  
  
  


She wrapped it in blue and silver, curling half a dozen pieces of ribbon before she got one that she considered good enough, and failed to fend off Anna’s determined attempts to braid the others into her hair. Wrapped up against the cold and with her hair gittering, she made her way to Rapunzel’s apartment, greeting the doorman that she had come to know. She tapped her way up the stairs, with their pretty view over the apartment gardens blanketed with snow as well, and to Rapunzel’s door.

Music was faintly audible, and Elsa smiled; apparently Rapunzel and Merida had managed to find a musical compromise. Last year, she had heard, Merida had been ready to shoot something over the Christmas music and the loss of her preferred metal within the first few days. Apparently at least occasional metal covers of Christmas songs was enough.

Elsa knocked at the door, and was not surprised when it was answered by Merida’s hair, followed by the rest of Merida, shouting to Rapunzel that her girlfriend was on the doorstep.

“–and how did you get in  _ again _ without us buzzing you in?” finished Merida, turning back to Elsa mid-sentence.

Knowing the doorman helped, but Elsa kept her smile coy. “That’s for me to know,” she said.

Merida scoffed and let her in, before expertly grabbing Maximus’s collar without even looking down when the dog came bounding over. He would probably get along marvellously with Sven; Rapunzel swore that he was a white Alsatian-cross, but Merida alternated between saying that she wasn’t sure what he could be crossed  _ with _ and commenting that he was very cross indeed. Whatever the dog’s faults – and he had plenty – he was supremely protective of Rapunzel, and Elsa respected that even if it had meant a few growls at first.

“ _ Down _ , you beast,” said Merida wearily.

“He can probably just smell Sven again,” Elsa said, as she usually did. Merida managed to get the door shut again before Maximus launched himself out of it, then ruffled the dog’s ears to show that she meant no ill. All the same, Max slunk back towards the living room, ears and tail drooping pointedly.

“He’s a bloody ham,” said Merida.

On that, Elsa had no arguments, but she would not even have had time for them before Rapunzel flung her door open and herself into Elsa’s arms with a welcome, but rather wet, kiss. Wet hair slapped Elsa’s cheeks, and she drew away in surprise to see that Rapunzel was still dripping from the shower, wrapped only in a towel and with shampoo suds still in her ear.

“Elsa!” said Rapunzel. “Give me a minute, I’ll just dry off.” She planted another kiss to Elsa’s lips, and this time Elsa was quick enough to lean her lips in and her body away to prevent herself from getting any wetter, then darted off into her room again.

“You didn’t have to–” Elsa began, then gave up and shrugged. She showed the present to Merida. “I just came to drop this off.”

“Eh, she doesn’t spend two hours unclogging the drain anymore,” said Merida. “Come on into the sitting room. Check Max isn’t in the fridge.”

Elsa slipped off her snow-damp boots, tucked them under the radiator, and followed Merida through the narrow hallway. A hallway which was, of course, made narrower by the bow and quiver of arrows in one corner, the large canvas taking up one wall, the bookcase that had escaped Rapunzel’s room to start its own colony, and a scattering of dog toys.

As she reached the front room, though, she stopped in her track and she felt her smile wither away. Her feet stilled, in the doorway.

Merida glanced over to Max, currently sulking in one of his beds and giving them huge, doleful eyes, then turned to Elsa. Her own smile faded, and she glanced around nervously. “Uh, if the Korn is a bit much I can turn it off.”

“No, it’s…” Elsa’s voice gave out on her. She had guessed that Rapunzel would already have decorated, perhaps would even have anticipated the real tree decked out in purple and gold. But she could have kicked herself when she saw the fairy lights strung along the ceiling, the glimmering lights on the balcony, lights peeking out from tinsel and… lights everywhere.

The room already looked like some sort of fairy cave. The box of lights in her hand suddenly seemed absurd.

“I, uh, I just realised, I think I grabbed the wrong thing,” said Elsa, trying to recover. Merida didn’t look convinced, and if Elsa couldn’t pass her muster then she certainly wouldn’t get anything past Rapunzel. “Serves me right for using all blue paper,” she tried again, and although it came out more confident Merida was still looking dubious. They both knew how organised Elsa was. “I’m really sorry,” she took a step backwards down the hallway, “could you let Rapunzel know–”

“Know what?” Rapunzel emerged from her room again, hair still dripping but actually presentable, just looking if anything even cuter than usual. The water made her hair into downwards spikes about her cheeks, emphasising her eyes, and her cheeks were pink. She had two presents in her arms, one silver and one gold, and stood on her tiptoes to look past Elsa. “Merida, can you grab me a bag?”

“Know that I love you.” When Rapunzel reached out as if to take the present, Elsa flicked it playfully out of her reach at the last minute. Rapunzel tried to glare, absolutely failed, and made another grab. This time Elsa spun it out of reach, still smiling, then yelped as Rapunzel collided with her in a third grab. Presents went in every which direction, Rapunzel burst out laughing, and Elsa was never able to help joining in.

“If you start making out in my kitchen, I’m giving Max your presents,” said Merida, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. She flicked it into the air and over her shoulder, and caught it behind her back. 

Rapunzel rolled her eyes fondly. “You have no romance in your soul. Fine.” She spun Elsa around, then stepped out of her arms and plucked the bag out of Merida’s hands. First the silver and then the gold presents were tucked into it, and then she deposited it into Elsa’s hand and bent down one last time to pick up her present.

“Can I shake it?” she teased.

“No!” The average box of small glass bulbs was probably fragile enough, but the delicate shapes of the sky lanterns would be even more easily crushed. The alarm must have been written clearly on Elsa’s face, though, as Rapunzel stopped and cradled the box to her chest instead. As Elsa’s heart stopped fluttering, she managed to find her own wry streak again. “Well, you can if you  _ want _ , but it probably won’t be good for it.”

Rapunzel spread her hands over it, play-protectively. “I’ll even keep it out of Max’s reach.”

“It’s just the first part,” Elsa said; it was the only way that she could think of to not lie. She did not want to lie to Rapunzel, quite aside from the fact that Rapunzel would know immediately, “The rest is on its way. I wanted to make sure that you got part of it before Christmas, in case the other part doesn’t arrive until after.”

Rapunzel looked as if it was the sweetest thing she had ever heard, which made Elsa feel pretty bad even as she was dragged into an almost painfully-tight hug. It wasn’t a lie, but it was covering her ass, and it was a way of buying herself more time to think something up.

She’d come up with one idea, though, and she was still fairly sure that it was a good one. She just hadn’t taken into account that Rapunzel would have had that particular good idea first. Pressing a feather-light kiss to Rapunzel’s temple, Elsa silently promised that she would find something for Christmas that had been just as perfect as the fair had been for Rapunzel’s birthday.

“I’ll try to keep her out of it for you, until Christmas,” Merida said, through a mouthful of apple. They had not got along so well at first, but had managed to find ways to respect and get along with each other.

On this one, though, Elsa managed a smile. “It’s fine.”

“You should stay for dinner,” said Rapunzel. “Merida made mince pies, which she assures me do not contain any actual meat and are some sort of fruit thing.”

“Sounds terrifying. But no,” said Elsa, with one last kiss. “I’ve got dinner in the oven, and if I leave Anna alone with it for too long then there’s a risk that she’ll eat it without me.”

Rapunzel’s eyes widened again. “You came over just for… oh, I don’t deserve you.” She gave Elsa a second tight hug, which probably just about skirted Merida’s rule for PDA in a food preparation area, and Elsa hid that the compliment made her feel guilty again. Rapunzel would probably spot it, though, if she lingered too long, and she quickly made her excuses and left.

  
  
  
  
  


She stood under the shower longer than she should have done, until the hot water ran out and she began to shiver. Even when she turned the water off, Elsa leant against the bathroom wall with the cold water dripping off her, and ignored the gooseflesh on her arms.

“Elsa?” Anna rapped politely at the door, but her voice was tense. “Are you okay in there?”

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she replied, which at least sidestepped the question. She towelled off, pulled on her pyjamas, and tried not to feel half as tired as she did when she opened the door to the bathroom.

She was not surprised to see Anna leaning on the wall opposite, hands tucked behind her. “So?”

Sisters. Friends. They had agreed that it meant no more secrets. “I was so excited about the present,” she admitted. “But Rapunzel’s already got a load of Christmas lights. Either she’s probably got the sky lantern ones, or she saw them and decided that she didn’t want some.”

Anna winced, either not fast enough to hide it or not bothering to. “Sorry,” she replied. “It was a great idea, though.”

“Just got five days to come up with another one.” She smiled, though it felt thin.

“That’s the spirit!” Anna peeled herself upright from the wall and looped an arm through Elsa’s. “Now, come on. Let’s find a bad horror movie and see if we can spot some stray camera shadows.”

Well, there were worse ways to spend an evening, especially since dinner smelt just about done. Elsa grabbed her phone from the arm of the couch out of habit, and was about to put it in her pocket when she noticed there was a video call, of all things, from Merida, of all people.

She stopped, frowning, and opened up the message. There was bound to be an explanation for this, but the last time that Merida had texted her it had been because Rapunzel had lost her phone and needed to change her number. Genuinely wondering if the video call was an accident, she opened it up anyway. If nothing else, Merida would see the humour in a video of the inside of her own pocket.

It wasn’t a mistake. Merida, hair mostly pulled back, was barely visible in the dim light on the phone. The looming bookcase behind her suggested that it was in the hallway.  _ “So, _ ” she said,  _ “I was trying to check that Rapunzel had turned all the lights off, and she had, but…” _ Merida pushed open the door to Rapunzel’s room and turned the camera in, pointing it towards the bed.

Rapunzel was just a faint shape beneath purple sheets, but she was still just about visible – by the string of lights around the headboard. Little sky lanterns, frosted white cylinders around each bulb, had been laced across the headboard.

The camera swung back to Merida again; she was now holding up neatly-removed and -folded blue wrapping people.  _ “An’ in case you were wondering…” _

Elsa put her hand to her lips, and realised it was trembling. She was smiling as well, was not even sure when she had started smiling, and felt like her heart might burst from her chest.

_ “I’ll make sure they’re not a fire hazard.” _ Merida’s smile softened.  _ “I don’t think you’ll need that second half of a present at all.” _

Only as she closed the video did she realise that she had a text from Rapunzel as well, beneath it all. Only three words, and it managed to say everything.

Best. Lights. Ever.


End file.
